Description:“On a cold winter night, the kingdom of Daldussa invaded Cierith, a peaceful and prosperous kingdom. The king of Daldussa, Bogdan, murdered the king and queen of Cierith in cold blood while their young daughter watched in horror. Bogdan then proclaimed himself dictator of the conquered land.

Ten years later, the princess of Cierith, now under the alias “Crystal,” is the leader of a rebel group called Deliverance and she uses her magic to fight Bogdan’s tyranny. She has many friends and allies who aid her, including Blaze, King Bogdan’s only son. Cast aside by his cruel father, Prince Blaze joins the rebellion bent on revenge.

Soon Crystal and Blaze will discover that they must both fight for their lives not only to protect everyone else they hold dear, but each other as well.”

My son recently turned 4. We kinda hoped some invisible switch would trigger and he would magically stop with the random tantrums over nothing. Hey – we can dream. We had a small party at my mother’s house, but the big one will happen tomorrow. We’ll start by taking him and some of his friends to a building full of bouncy houses, to run off some energy. Then, we’re off to my mother-in-laws for lunch. She misses him and the kids so much. We can’t wait to share his special day with her. She’s still a bit tired, but as determined as ever.

The weather here has been so nice, I broke out the sidewalk chalk. After teaching the boy how to play Hopscotch, I let him go to town on our driveway. Here’s his street art…

Toddler Street Artby The Boy

Other than that, we’re just goin’ with the flow. My day job is trying to stress me out, but I’m doing my best not to let it. It’s weird, though. My husband works for a privately owned business and everyone there keeps offering us whatever help they can, knowing what we’re going through. My work, however, gives the impression that they couldn’t really care any less. I’m mostly referring to my boss. I’ve had to call and leave numerous messages about getting in a work day or two here and there, just to keep me on the books. But I have to find out through co-workers, on Facebook no less, whether he’s put me on the schedule because he won’t call me back. And when I finally did talk to him, he just had this tone – like he would much rather avoid me. Maybe it’s his own dealings with cancer, which I get. I’ve lost too many people to it – as a lot of us have. But it just makes me feel inadequate and unimportant as an employee, and a person. We sit in morning meetings every few months and he goes on and on about how we’re a family. Now, I really don’t feel that’s true, as much as I want to believe it is. So, maybe that’s the difference between ‘small business’ and ‘corporate America’.

But I will not dwell. I have more important things to deal with. And if I lose my job over all of this, then maybe I’m better off. To each his own.

In the meantime, here’s what else is happenin’ in my neck of the woods…

I’m really excited to share this gem with you. In working with the wonderful staff of Acorn Book Services, I met a budding new author with an epic science fiction odyssey in the works. Together, we designed the perfect cover for his masterpiece. I present to you…

Epitaph: Reveille by Victor Nieves

Nearly three-hundred years have passed since humanity ascended to the stars, joining with a conglomeration of alien races all living under the rule of a single, united community—the United Galactic Coalition—a joint, multi-species alliance that upholds the principles of democracy, freedom, and equality for all races.

The Milky Way Galaxy’s future looks bright …

Until a research team uncovers a mysterious crystal buried deep beneath the surface of a frontier world on the edge of settled space. This discovery proves to be the catalyst for an invasion from an unknown alien force that is just as ruthless as they are mysterious.

As the races of the galaxy are catapulted into a vicious fight for their very survival, fate hastily throws together a legendary admiral with a dark past, a brilliant scientist with precious little time to find the answers, an elite Special Forces Operative who must come to terms with a past failure, a spunky young military officer for whom this war is a baptism by fire, and a top notch Marine who will discover a truth that will define him as a hero.

These five men and women hold not only the keys to their own survival, but the survival of their entire civilization. With the clock ticking, the race to uncover the truth begins. As they try to fend off this cruel and merciless alien foe, this handful of soldiers must discover what secrets this crystal could hold that would be worth the destruction of all life in the galaxy. But the question is …